In the course of a decade, federal funding for juvenile justice declined to about half of what was appropriated when Congress last reauthorized the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) in 2002.
To date, federal spending is about $251 million. This is down from the $547 million appropriated at the 2002 reauthorization of the JJDPA. Advocates for juvenile justice call for more funding.
Senators Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island., are expected to introduce a bipartisan measure in the near future to reauthorize JJDPA.
The “core requirements” of JJDPA are to prevent detention of “status offenders” who come in contact with the juvenile justice system for nonviolent offenses; reduce disproportionate minority contact (DMC) with the juvenile justice system; remove young offenders from adult facilities; and prevent contact between adult inmates and incarcerated youths in adult institutions.
The bipartisan measure by Grassley and Whitehouse is expected to close loopholes in JJDPA that allow exceptions to detaining of status offenders and to offer states incentives that focus more on education for incarcerated youths than on incarceration of young offenders.
“The budget challenges at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention are compounded by instances of duplication and overlap in numerous grant programs administered by the U.S Department of Justice,” says a spokesman for Grassley. “Senator Grassley is committed to pursuing reform to ensure that the limited grant resources now available to OJJDP will be devoted to the most meritorious initiatives and projects for the nation’s at-risk youth.”
The steep decline in formula grants, called Title II, diminishes states’ incentives to offer alternatives for youth offenders. This could translate to states locking up young offenders because it is easier to do so due to a lack of federal funding.
Marie Williams, executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit Coalition for Juvenile Justice, said in an email, “If one considers the way the JJDPA was conceptualized, the sharp decrease in funding is particularly troubling.” Williams continued, “The JJDPA’s design is such that it not only prescribes core protections, but provides funding to incentivize states’ participation in the act, and gives them the resources to do so.
“The significant reduction of those resources over time has had the predictable effect of also diminishing the incentive for some states to participate.”
President Barack Obama requested $339 million for juvenile justice in his 2016 fiscal year budget, an increase of 35 percent. This increase would be earmarked toward $70 million for the Title II JJDPA formula grants; $42 million will go toward the JJDPA Title V Delinquency Prevention Program; $10 million targeting the “school-to-prison pipeline”; and $30 million for a new “Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative.”
Many budget observers doubt Congress will approve the increased funding.
But increasing spending alone wouldn’t necessarily improve outcomes for delinquent children said Nate Balis, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group.
“More funding in itself for a juvenile justice system that has typically spent the money in the wrong way, on facilities rather than families, on being punitive rather than being developmental in its approach, is not what the juvenile justice system needs,” Balis said.